


The Repatriationists

by QueenOfCarrotFlowers



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Ahch-To, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Archaeology, F/M, Force Bond (Star Wars), Force-Sensitive Finn, Gentle femdom, Non-Graphic Violence, Reylo - Freeform, ancient jedi texts, background finnrose - Freeform, canon-divergent AU that is written like a modern AU, i take a lot of liberties, repatriation, snoke doesn't exist, the Galactic Museum owns everything
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-01-01
Packaged: 2019-09-28 22:43:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17191646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenOfCarrotFlowers/pseuds/QueenOfCarrotFlowers
Summary: Rey has become involved with an underground group that returns cultural objects to their peoples of origin. She pulls in Ben Solo, her on again / off again lover, to help with their latest job.





	1. The Proposition

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kereia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kereia/gifts).



> Prompt: Rey is a treasure hunter, selling to the highest bidder. Ben is an archeologist, who believes artifacts belong in a museum.
> 
> Thanks a million to LoveThemFiercely for talking me through this and advising on plot points, I literally couldn't have written it without her support

“I have a proposition for you.”

He looked up and down her lean body, simply clad in black leggings and tunic, hair pulled back in a loose bun, staff strapped across her back as usual, blaster casual on her slim hip. She was leaning against the doorway between the kitchen and the sitting area in his apartment and he had no idea how she got there. He took another sip from his third - fourth? - glass of Corellian brandy of the evening before he replied.

“You’re wearing far too many clothes to be propositioning me.”

She scoffed, an ugly sound, right through her nose, which she wrinkled at him where he lounged across his low armchair. He was comfortably sprawled, clad in soft grey with his long, dark hair hanging across his forehead, feet bare, limbs akimbo and head leaning back except when he raised it to take a sip of alcohol.

“It’s not that kind of proposition. How many of those have you had?”

He glanced at the glass as though considering her question. “If you’re not propositioning me I’m not sure why it matters.”

She scoffed again at that, but more honestly, even fondly, crossed her arms and shook her head. “You never change, do you, Ben?”

“Well, I guess I’m in good company, Rey,” he replied, and downed the rest of his drink with a grimace. Rey didn’t bother hiding her smile. 

“As a matter of fact,” the woman said, as she stepped forward and lowered herself into the chair on the other side of the low table from where the man lounged, angling her staff behind her as she sat. “I may have changed. Just a little.”

Ben sat up straighter, as well as he could given his physical size and level of drunkenness. He and Rey had had the same dynamic their entire adult relationship, if you could call what they had a _relationship_. He tried very hard not to think about what exactly they had. 

He had known Rey for most of her life and half of his. She had been brought to the Jedi training academy run by Ben’s uncle Luke Skywalker when she was about six standard years old. He’d been a teenager by then and hadn’t really noticed her except when she was being a brat; she had been far too smart for her own good even then. After one too many arguments with Luke about his affinity for the dark side of the Force, Ben had left his training and for the past several years had made his living traveling the galaxy to search for artifacts, mainly relating to the Jedi, which were then accessioned into the vast collections of the Galactic Museum on Coruscant. Rey had also left training when she came of age; she simply didn’t find the idea of being a Jedi compelling. She’d found her calling in more lucrative work.

Work that involved finding new artifacts and selling them to the highest bidder, where they’d be spirited away into private collections, never to be seen again.

Ben and Rey would run into each other a few times a year, through the course of their work. They often found themselves seeking the same artifacts, which could lead to heated conversations; exactly how heated was another thing Ben tried not to think about. He still hadn’t forgotten the noises Rey had made the last time he’d seen her, when she’d rode him to simultaneous orgasm in a treetop cottage on Kashyyyk, her fists in his hair and her breasts in his mouth. She’d left with the statuette they’d been fighting over before he woke up, and he couldn’t bring himself to be mad about it.

She was speaking and he tried to get his brain back on track. Her physical presence was very distracting. 

“I’m sure you’ve heard about what happened with the artifacts from Dagobah.”

Ben nodded slowly. “Yes, but just rumors. I know there was some problem with them. They were forgeries. Right?”

Rey struck a fist against her knee and bore her teeth like a little animal. “They were _not_ forgeries. They were originals. You know that I would know the difference.”

He nodded, because he did know. Rey had a natural talent for psychometry - she could glean a significant amount of knowledge about an object from a single touch. But even without that talent she would know. She was a professional.

Rey continued bitterly. “The collector said they were forgeries to avoid paying me. Claimed he had his own specialist who confirmed it.”

“But he still kept them.”

She threw herself back in the chair, annoyed when her staff was in the way. “ _Of course_. Of course he did.”

They sat together in more or less companionable silence, and Ben considered offering her a drink before he remembered that she had a presumably professional reason for being there.

“So, Rey, what’s your proposition?”

She sat up again. “Right. Okay. After the Dagobah fiasco Finn came to see me and we had a series of… let’s say _enlightening_ conversations. You remember Finn?”

Finn had been another student at the academy, a couple of years older than Rey. Unlike her he’d stayed on to train as a Jedi but had run into issues with Luke as he’d aged. As Ben did he had an affinity with the dark side of the Force and Luke had trouble fitting Finn into his prescribed world view. Luke had eventually expelled Finn, and he’d gone underground, popping up every now and then, inciting disorder. Over the past decade or so he had made quite a name for himself as a defender of the innocent across the galaxy. 

“Of course I remember Finn. What kind of trouble is he getting into these days?”

“Finn’s fallen in with a new crowd, that has a different kind of agenda.” She leaned forward, her elbows on her knees. “Ben, what can you tell me about repatriation?”

Ben blew out a breath and tried not to think about Rey’s breasts. He was confused. “You know what repatriation is.”

Rey laughed, openly and with humor. “Yes, Ben, I do,” she said patiently, “but I’m interested in what _you_ have to say about it.”

“Well, repatriation is when you return artifacts to the cultures or people who were responsible for creating them.”

“Can you give me an example?”

Ben huffed. “The Galactic Museum doesn’t practice repatriation, so I can’t give you an example from experience, but it would be like, if we deaccessioned the Nightsister crystal ball and sent it back to Dathomir. But that would be ridiculous; Dathomir is a dark planet, they’d only use it for evil purposes. It’s so much better off in the museum.”

“So that’s the Nightsister ball.” Rey leaned forward, her eyes shining. “What about something less fraught. What about, say, the Crown of Dubrillion?”

“Well, that’s priceless, historic jewelry. In the museum it’s safer than it would be anywhere else. It’s being… saved, for the future.”

“Hm. How do you know that?”

Ben was getting annoyed. “I mean, it just _is_. _You_ know that. The museum is a public institution. Artifacts in the collection have been cataloged, locked away. Scholars can come visit, and they have public exhibitions. The artifacts are also, by the way, better off in the museum than they would be in any private collection. You remember what happened with Jabba Desilijic Tiure’s Mendacian funeral urns? Destroyed by some idiot Moggonite with a grudge. One of a kind. Disgusting.”

Rey nods, conceding his point. “That’s all true, I suppose. I’m not convinced about the Crown, though; there’s a perfectly respectable museum in Dubril City, and I have no doubt they would _love_ to have the Crown back, and they’d be in a good position to care for it, too.”

Ben nodded in reply, also conceding, but she kept talking. 

“Additionally, Ben, it would be with the people responsible for its creation. It would, I would argue, be where it belongs. Can you see that?”

“I suppose.”

“So you acknowledge that there are instances where objects could be repatriated, without damage to them or to the safety of the galaxy?”

He shifted his jaw, and couldn’t help but notice how her eyes followed the movement. He knew, from long experience, that for some reason she liked it when he did that. He didn’t even do it on purpose. 

Finally he sighed. “Yes. I will give you that.”

She grinned happily and darted her tongue out to moisten her lips. “So what do you know about the Aionomica?”

“Luke told us about that, it's one of the legendary texts tracking the earliest Jedi teachings. The only other one we even have a name for is the Rammahgon. It's doubtful they ever existed, but if they did they're long gone.”

Her grin grew wider and she began to bounce slightly in her seat. It was adorable, although he would never tell her that. 

“I have a contact who claims to know where there's a copy, where a full collection of manuscripts containing the earliest Jedi texts are, and I also have a buyer interested in funding the search.”

“Oookay. I'm not sure what this has to do with me.”

“You know that I normally operate anonymously, but the Dagobah thing is making me more careful, so I did a bit of research and found out who the buyer is.”

She paused dramatically. He rolled his eyes and she sighed.

“Fine, but you're going to like this. It's Armitage Hux.”

At the name of his nemesis at the museum Ben growled, and he couldn't help but notice that at the sound Rey's breath caught and her eyes dilated. But she pulled herself together and continued.

“It gets better. The reason he's going through me, instead of through you, is because this isn't for the museum. It's for his personal collection.”

Ben scrunched his face in confusion. “There must be some mistake, Rey. Hux doesn't have a personal collection. As the Curator of Jedi Lore he’s contractually obligated not to.”

“Ah, well, maybe so, but he definitely does. I trust my research. But it gets better. Not only is he seeking out objects off the black market that he should be buying on behalf of the museum, but he's also been stealing from the museum itself.”

Ben laughed, he couldn't help it. “As much as I love the idea of Hux being a sneaky museum burglar, I can't see him doing this. Where's your proof?”

She gave him a smug smile. “I know the forger. Apparently she's been making high-quality pieces for him for months, but she only became suspicious when he put in a rush order for the entire set of Empress Teta's Crown Jewels with a finish deadline three days before they were scheduled to go on display. So she embedded a tracker in one of the pieces. Where do you think it is now?”

Ben's mouth went dry. “In an exhibit case. In the museum.”

“Exactly so.” Rey stood up and pulled the staff over her head, leaned it against the wall behind her, then got to work unstrapping the holster. “He's stealing from the museum and replacing the pieces with forgeries. Which, I think you'll agree, is a pretty shady thing to do.”

Ben made a sound of agreement, but he was flustered just at the moment; Rey had just released her bun and was pulling her fingers through her hair, carefully working through the tangles as she continued speaking.

“I know Hux has been trying to get you fired for ages, and that you got into a lot of trouble with him after Kashyyyk - sorry about that by the way.”

“It was worth it,” he interjected softly. She smiled and sat back down, turning her attention to the laces of her boots.

“So anyway, Finn and I are putting together a crew to go find the manuscripts, on Hux’s dime, give him forged copies, and return the originals to their places of origin, as well as we can figure them. I’m confident I can handle that part.” She glanced up at him through her eyelashes. “I want you on that crew.”

Ben blinked stupidly as he watched Rey pull off her boots and socks. “Why me?”

“Because you're smart, and you're good at your job. The location we have isn't exact, and your knowledge and experience could be really helpful to tracking them down. Given the type of objects these are your Force sensitivity could be helpful too.” 

She paused and held his eyes with her own. “Also, frankly, I like you. And you deserve better than the museum. They don't appreciate you, they really don't. So maybe this job is an opportunity for you to think about that.”

“What, going into business with you?”

She stood, and raked her eyes slowly down his body, then back up again before answering with a smile. 

“Something like that. You don't have to answer now, you can tell me in the morning.”

With that she pulled her tunic off over her head and then quickly divested herself of her breastband, leaving her completely bare from the waist up. All at once Ben's trousers were uncomfortably tight.

“You’ll be here in the morning?” He hated how desperate he sounded; but she smiled fondly as she stepped over the table and climbed into his lap, straddling his hips.

“Do you want me to be?”

“Yes, of course. Yes.”

She leaned down to whisper in his ear. “Then yes. Yes I will.”

Ben whined, “I like it when you say _yes_ ,” then he gripped her hips tightly and thrust himself up against the inviting warmth at the apex of her thighs. She moaned, and grazed her teeth against his neck. “I like that too,” she murmured, rubbing her nose just beneath his ear. “I like that very much.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Nightsister crystal ball](http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Nightsister_crystal_ball)   
>  [Mendacian funeral urns](http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Mendacian_funeral_urn)   
>  [Crown of Dubrillion](http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Crown_of_Dubrillion)   
>  [Sacred Jedi texts](http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Sacred_Jedi_texts)   
>  [Empress Teta's Crown Jewels](http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Empress_Teta%27s_Crown_Jewels)


	2. The Meeting

In the morning Ben had said  _ yes _ , one more time, and two weeks later he finally had the meeting with Finn’s crew. They didn’t have a name, as far as he knew, but he’d taken to thinking of them as The Repatriationists. 

After that first evening, Rey kept him updated with regular late-night visits. By the end of the two weeks, she was coming every night just to tell him that there were no new updates; she’d give him the message, then he'd take her to bed. He was getting used to it, dangerously used to it: the warmth and texture of her skin, the way she smelled and tasted, the sound of her post-coital laughter and her breathing as she slept. It was as though someone had given him a box of his favorite sweets, the ones he usually only had on special occasions. He didn't know how many were in the box; yet he couldn’t stop eating them, and he was terrified they would run out.

She seemed to enjoy it as much as he did; after all, she kept coming back. She also, always, made sure he was awake and said goodbye before sneaking out in the morning.

The meeting happened in an old warehouse in one of the planet's lower levels; exactly the type of place Ben had imagined it would. Rey and Ben arrived at the same time and were greeted at the door by an unsmiling, serious-looking man.  He was several inches shorter than Ben, but sturdy; with a tanned complexion and curly dark hair, clad in shades of brown and cream, blaster strapped at his side. A small round orange and white BB-model droid rolled back and forth patiently at his feet.

“Names?” He asked, using his body to block their view through the door.

“I’m Rey and this is Ben. We're here to see Finn, he’s expecting us at this meeting.”

The man looked back and forth between them; and, apparently satisfied, allowed them into the room. He didn't ask for their weapons, which Ben thought was strange, especially since Rey’s staff and blaster were both clearly visible.

He locked the door behind them, and matched pace with them as they made their way into the vast space.

“You're the last ones,” he said by way of explanation. The BB unit chirped and the man chuckled. “You're right, Beebee, I am very rude. Rey and Ben, my name's Poe, and this is Beebee-Ate, my sidekick.” The droid made a disgruntled sort of sound, and Poe threw back his head and laughed. It transformed his entire demeanor. 

“Beebee thinks I'm his sidekick. That's fair.”

“So what's your role in this, Poe?” Rey asked. “I wasn't expecting to see anyone here I haven't met before.” 

“That's a fair question, and Finn'll explain it more, but my anonymity is part of the reason why. He also said something about being hired brawn, but I'm really sure this job doesn't need any and I'm absolutely certain he doesn't.” 

Poe led them around a corner to another, smaller section of the building. There was a small group of people milling around a large rectangular table in the center of the room. Another man stood apart, but when he saw them round the corner he let loose a delighted shout. 

“Chuba!” he exclaimed. It had been a few years since Ben had last seen Finn, but this was definitely him. His braids were longer, almost reaching his shoulders, and he had a black patch covering his left eye, which he hadn't had before; but otherwise he looked the same: the same dark skin, the same big  smile, still dressed all in black, trousers and boots and collared shirt and vest. He didn't carry a blaster but hanging from his right hip was his lightsaber, which he’d just finished building before Luke expelled him from the academy. In contrast with his aesthetic, which he kept purposefully dark, he grinned warmly as he skipped lightly across the room, embracing Rey and spinning her around, to her obvious delight.

She giggled when he set her down. “You silly, I just saw you yesterday.”

“I know, but I'm always happy to see you. Plus, I am just so excited to see this project moving forward.”

Finn finally looked at Ben, who had been standing there, amused and slightly uncomfortable. Finn’s affinity for the dark side of the Force, paired with his obvious and honest good nature, made a lot of people uncomfortable, put them on their guard. However the reason behind Ben’s discomfort was a bit different; Finn reminded him of himself, only more confident, more certain, and it made him feel uneasy in a way that was difficult for him to explain. Finn had spent his childhood trying to prove himself, as had Ben, but after his falling out with Luke he no longer cared much what other people thought of him, and he was free to do as he wished. Ben didn’t think he had that luxury. 

“Hey Ben, it's been a while. I'm really glad Rey was able to convince you to join us, I think you'll be a real asset to the team.” The two men shook hands, and then Finn clasped Ben’s shoulder and led him towards the table. 

While they walked, Ben decided to ask the obvious question. “Finn, can I ask what happened to your eye?”

“Sure.” Finn held Ben’s gaze with his good eye, a slight grin at the very corner of his mouth.

“Uh, what happened to your eye?”

Finn answered his question with one of his own. “Did you hear about Bala-Tik?”

“Yes, of course, he got carved up by some pirate when he was …” he caught the amused expression on Finn’s face and connected the dots. “Ah.”

“Yeah. It was a good fight.”

“You could have killed him.”

”I could have, but I didn't. You know I don't like to kill. And maybe he'll think twice next time before he goes up against someone who's better than him. He did leave me this to remember him by. That's fair.”

They'd reached the table by then and Ben finally had a chance to glance around. Aside from Finn and Rey, there was one other person he knew by sight; a professor at the university he’d met at a couple of social events at the museum. She gave him a knowing smile and nodded when he caught her eye; knowing her reputation and the circles she moved in he was a bit surprised to see her there, but he wasn’t sure what to say.

In any case it appeared it was time to kick off the meeting. Finn cleared his throat and gave a welcome, then started introductions. 

“Right, you all know me. I’m Finn, and I’m in charge.” He gestured dramatically at the woman to his right. “This is Rey. Rey’s also in charge. She’s been a very successful treasure hunter, but I’m trying to convert her to the repatriation game. The tall guy next to her is Ben. He’s also a treasure hunter, although he wouldn’t call himself that. He’s been working for the Galactic Museum, but we’re hoping to convert him, too. Any questions so far?”

Poe spoke up, narrowed eyes focused on Ben. “Galactic Museum, eh? How do we know you won’t run off with the artifacts and accession them into your collection?”

Ben opened his mouth to protest, but Finn interrupted him. “Rey trusts Ben, and I trust Ben, so that’s all you need to know. Okay?”

Poe shrugged and stepped down. Finn stared at him for just a beat longer before pointing to the woman directly across the table from him. She was petite; from her dark hair and features Ben guessed that she was from one of the human worlds in the Outer Rim. Something in Otomok, maybe. “Rose is our master forger. She’s the best at what she does. With her is Mitaka, our historical bookbinder, and Phasma.” Phasma was very tall with short platinum hair, and she wore a dress that looked like it was made to wear to a fancy party, not an underground meeting. “Phasma’s a professor over at the university, a specialist in ancient galactic languages and paleography. And last but not least, we have Poe. Poe is our… unconnected person. Our safe man, if you will. Plus he’s handy with a blaster.”

Finn paused again and glanced around the group, and Ben figured this was his chance to ask about the professor.

“Uh, I know Phasma though the museum. I’m just surprised to see her here, given how close she is to the administration in the university and the library. No offence, Phasma, but I know you do a lot of consulting with the curators.”

Finn seemed content to let Phasma answer for herself. “It’s important to have people on the inside, Ben. I’m trusted in those spaces, which is good for us. But I’m not really one of them, even if it looks like I am.”

“It’s Phasma that got me into this,” Finn explained further, and the two other forgers nodded as well. “She’s been doing this for a long time. You can trust her, okay?”

Ben was shocked; he’d had no idea about Phasma, but he supposed that was the point. So he gestured for Finn to continue.

“Right, so you all know the basics of the job. It's straightforward.”

“Rey has the coordinates for the location of a cache of ancient Jedi manuscripts, containing some legendary texts about the Force. Nobody alive has ever read or even seen these texts, which I understand makes the forger’s job a bit easier. I’ll let Rose and her team talk about that. The extraction team is me, Rey, and Ben. We’re all Force sensitive, which should be useful. We’ll follow the coordinates, extract the books from wherever they’ve been hidden, then bring them back to identify their origins and return them to their homes, if we can. In the meantime we pass the forgeries along to the buyer who is so kindly funding this expedition. Any questions before we get into details?”

The man that Finn had introduced as Mitaka, a small, young, worried-looking man with pale skin and straight brown hair, piped up, “I’ve been wondering, how will we identify place of origin? I mean, don’t get me wrong, Phasma’s amazing, but even she doesn’t know every galactic culture going back thousands of years.”

Finn grinned and waggled his eyebrows. “That’ll be Rey’s job.”

Rey nodded. “Yes, I can do that. Or, I can try anyway. Part of my Force sensitivity comes with psychometry. If I touch an object I can… know things about it. Where it’s been, who’s come into contact with it, sometimes who made it. We  _ hope _ that I can apply this gift to these books. But we won’t actually know until we find them.”

Finn rubbed his hands together eagerly. “To keep this job simple and closed, the only people who will know details of the extraction will be the three of us. But I think it’s important for all of us to know about the forgeries, because they’re the key to success; especially if this is something we want to do again. Which I do hope it is.” He cast Ben a pointed glance, and Ben tried not to wither under it. He wasn’t completely certain about this job, and he certainly wasn’t ready to sign up for another, at least not yet. 

“Rose? Show us what you have.”

The master forger reached to the center of the table and pulled the three boxes that were resting there to the area directly in front of her. Ben recognized them as grist boxes, hard boxes designed to protect books as a shell protects a grist mollusk. She opened one of the boxes and Mitaka pulled over a bead-filled pillow and together they opened the book carefully, laid it on the pillow, and set a couple of long, thin, flexible weights along the edges to hold the binding open. Ben was a bit surprised when she turned to him.

“Come Ben, have a look, I think you’ll like this.” Her voice was pleasant with a very slight Outer Rim accent, and as she spoke she became more and more animated. It was very charming. “This is one of the books that we’re using as the basis for the forgeries. They’re from three separate collections, owned by secretive people totally unconnected to each other and to our current buyer. So it’s exceedingly unlikely he will have ever seen any of these. But even if he has, we’ll be making changes to them; our forgeries won’t be exact copies. And of course the texts will be different. Phasma is working on those.” 

Rose moved aside and gestured for Ben to stand in front of the book. “Tell me about it.”

Ben took his time. He started by examining the binding, the sewing structure (which was clear because the volume lacked a spine), and how the text block was attached to the front and back boards. He then paged through it, feeling the support material, noting the colors of the ink and how it sat on the page, the script and what he could make out of the text (which was, he would have to admit, nothing). He took a sniff in the gutter, which was dusty and made him sneeze, to Rose’s clear amusement. She gently took the book out of his hands and placed it on the pillow.

“So? What do you think?”

“I’m not a specialist, but it looks like Old-Republic. Jedha? The writing is a form of ancient Auerbesh that I’m not familiar with, and I’m afraid I have no idea what the language is; could be any number of things. There are several marginal notes that are also in Auerbesh but I think they’re later, maybe much later. There are a few in the Middle Quarrie script, too, but not as many. The parchment is a bit unusual; it’s very pliable, and the grey coloring could indicate that it’s Jedha riding beast - I’ve seen something like it once or twice before. The binding is newer than the text, though, that’s definitely not an Old-Republic era Jedha binding. From the various sets of holes on the edge of the quires it looks like it’s been rebound at least once, maybe twice.”

Rose looked thoughtful. “Where do you think this binding was done?”

Ben crossed his arms and sighed. “It’s a common sort of binding. Leather over wood, I think, I can’t identify either of them. No stamps or any other decoration so that doesn’t help. Could be from any time between the Old-Republic and the Republic, really. And I have no idea where.” He turned to Rey. “Do you want to see if you can figure it out? See if I’m right?”

Rey stepped forward nervously as Rose picked up the book and held it out to her. She eyed the tome but didn’t move to touch it. Ben brought one of his hands up to rest on her lower back. “You don’t have to, if you don’t want to,” he whispered.

“No, it’s fine. I’m just not used to having an audience.” And then she straightened her shoulders and grabbed the book with both hands.

Her first response seemed to be confusion. She ran the fingers of one hand over the leather of the front cover, then quickly flipped it open and ran the same fingers across a page containing an astronomical diagram that showed the eclipse cycles of some moon or planet. Ben wanted to warn her not to touch the ink, but Rose didn’t seem to mind so he held his tongue. 

Without warning Rey burst into laughter. She was laughing so hard that Rose had to take the book from her because she was in danger of dropping it. When she was able to take a breath she started yelling. “ROSE! ARE YOU SERIOUS!” There were tears running down her face.

Finn and Rose were laughing too, although not as vigorously. Mitaka seemed pleased; Phasma smirked. Poe just looked lost, and Ben was pretty sure he had the same expression.

“What is it, Rey! What is it?”

“Oh Ben,” she giggled through her tears. “This is a forgery. The only people who have touched this book complete are sitting in this room. You’re right about the parchment, though, it’s definitely from the skin of Jedha riding beasts. Twenty-four of them, I believe. I could tell you about the ink, too, if you wanted me to. But really. They fooled you. They fooled  _ you _ .”

Ben felt lightheaded and took the book in his hands again, examining it carefully. “This is incredible. There’s nothing here to indicate a forgery.” He glanced over at Phasma. “What are the texts?”

She shrugged. “A little of this, a little of that. Variations on known Jedi and Sith texts, and some things I made up.”

“What if the buyer finds out the texts aren’t good?” Poe asked with a frown. “I mean, that’s a potential weak spot in the plan, isn’t it?”

Phasma grinned at him. “Whoever this buyer is, it’s remarkably unlikely that they’re schooled in these languages; I selected them myself for maximum obscurity. Who do you think they’re going to call for help with translating? There’s only one specialist in ancient galactic languages in this sector and she’s sitting in this room.” 

Ben held back a laugh. Hux knew as much about these sorts of manuscripts as he did; if they fooled him they’ll fool Hux. And the man wasn’t a scholar. Ben was certain he only wanted the books to have them, he would never try to read them himself.

“What about protocol droids?” Poe asked. “Couldn’t a droid figure it out easily?”

“A droid only knows as much as it can be programmed,” Phasma replied with a laugh. “My work is original, my own, no droid knows what I know about the arcane languages. I’m confident that won’t be an issue.”

“You satisfied, Poe?” Finn asked. Poe gave a halfhearted nod, and that was that.

Rose showed them the other two books, which were as impressive as the first. The forgeries would stay with Poe until it was time to make the switch; it turned out this was his purpose, acting as a sort of unknown middleman to keep all versions of the books safe until it was time to take them where they needed to be.

And with that the meeting was over. Rose and Mitaka packed up the books while the others chatted. Poe, it seemed, was still getting to know everyone.

“So Finn, Rey, Ben. You guys are Jedi, but you don’t seem like the stereotypical Jedi. Like, you guys don’t seem particularly tranquil to me.”

“We’re not Jedi,” Rey replied with a shake of her head. “We all left the academy before we got to that point. I’d make a  _ terrible _ Jedi. Unsuited to it.”

Poe turned to Finn. “I mean, you’d make an excellent Jedi, I think. Why’d you leave? What was the problem?”

Finn’s face took on the patient expression of someone who’s given the same explanation a thousand times before and was getting a little tired of it. “I didn’t leave, I was expelled. And I didn't have a problem. Oh sure, there was a problem but it wasn't mine. The issue was that I loved too much.  _ Too much strong emotion leads to the dark side _ is what Luke used to tell me. As though I could just stop feeling.”

Ben nodded in commiseration. He knew this story well. He’d had similar conversations with his uncle before deciding to leave the academy altogether. Finn continued, getting more worked up as he spoke, anger finally entering his voice.

“As I got older and traveled the galaxy, I got to see the injustice of it all. The system is designed so that the few benefit on the backs of the many. How can that not make you angry? How can you not love the people who are suffering, and work to make their lives better? So that's what finally got me expelled. I loved too much. And I’m not sorry.”

As he was speaking Rose took his hand silently and lifted it to her face, rubbing the back of it against her cheek. He intertwined his fingers with hers and his anger dissipated as quickly as it had appeared. After a moment Rose pressed her lips to the back of his hand and then let him go so she could finish packing up the books. 

Rey, Ben and Finn had a quick conversation and decided there was no reason to wait; they would leave to find the manuscripts first thing the next morning. They left in groups. First Poe and BB-8, with the forged books secure in Poe’s pack, then Phasma and Mitaka, reminding Ben of his parents’ old protocol droid and his accompanying R2 unit, and then Rey and Ben, walking close together. Ben assumed that Finn and Rose would leave eventually, but from the way they’d been looking at each other as everyone else was leaving he supposed it might take them a while.

Rey followed Ben back to his apartment. It was earlier than her usual visiting time, and she was hungry, so he heated up some dianoga pie for dinner. They ate it together on the balcony and watched the sunset, then they sat in the dark and talked. About everything, and nothing. When it was almost too late he carried her inside, stripped her naked, and made love to her in his bed. He was aware that the job would be ending soon, and she would no longer have a reason to visit him. Eventually she fell asleep, and he held her tight and listened to her breathe, and tried not to think about it.


	3. Discovery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story earns it's E rating.

It took them three standard days of hyperspace travel to arrive at their destination. Finn’s ship was out of commission, so Ben had arranged to borrow his father’s ship for the extraction. It was an old thing, a YT-1300 Corellian light freighter scratched and scraped from years of abuse, but it could fly and had armaments and defenses that they hoped they wouldn’t need, but would be useful to have if they did. 

Finn and Rey were both a bit enamored with the ship; it was called the  _ Millennium Falcon _ and had (Ben’s father would tell anyone willing to listen) once made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs. Ben was embarrassed by it all. He was especially embarrassed when Rey made her way around the ship, touching every surface and giggling. He knew his parents well enough to know what she was discovering. 

It put her in a mood, however. So he didn’t mind so much later, when they had the bunkroom to themselves and Rey was doing everything she could to make him cry out, then reminding him that Finn was  _ right outside Ben, you need to be  _ **_quiet_ ** _ so he doesn’t hear you _ . He didn’t mind it quite so much then.

They spent much of those three days on contingency planning. They had no idea what they were walking into. The planet would undoubtedly be habitable for humans, but beyond that they just didn’t know. Would it be full of hot fire like Mustafar? Or a desert wasteland like Jakku or Tatooine? Or watery green like Takodana? Or some combination of them? Or something else entirely? Would there be native species to deal with, and if so would they be sentient? Welcoming?

At the end they were all somewhat shocked when they hopped out of hyperspace to find a planet almost entirely covered with water. They all reached out with the Force, individually, feeling for any indication of where some kind of Force-bearing objects could be on the surface or, the maker forbid, under the surface, but the Force seemed to be drawing them all to the same place: A small, rocky island close to the planet’s equatorial line. They flew around the island a few times, getting a rough idea of its layout and geography: there were several small bays, something that looked like a gathering of stone huts, a large grassy area that formed a sort of saddle in the ground connecting the two ends of the island, and a vertical outcropping that towered over everything else.

They were all drawn to that outcropping. “I think the books are there,” Rey whispered, and the other two nodded in agreement. There was certainly  _ something _ there. Something important.

They eventually found a suitable place to land; a large, flat rock towards the base of the island that appeared to have been designed for that purpose. The planet’s dual suns were just rising when they landed, so they took their time equipping themselves and feeling the place out. Although there were storms visible out on the horizon, the weather on the island was clear, and it was warm and pleasant.

The Force was thick; Ben couldn’t think of another way to describe it. The entire island was imbued with it, like a bantha steak marinated overnight. But this place had been marinating in the Force for thousands of years. Rey knelt down and set her palms against the rocky ground, her eyes closed, face serious. She was silent and still for several minutes. When she finally stood she gave them both a crooked grin.

“You’re not going to believe this. You remember learning about the beginnings of the Jedi? All the possible places the religion could have been born?”

Finn shrugged but Ben nodded; Jedi lore had been his favorite subject to learn about, and had been the thing that led him to work for the museum in the first place. “Yeah, there are several of them. Jedha, Ossus, Tython, Ahch-To, Coruscant.”

“So, not to be dramatic or anything, but this is it. This is the place where the Jedi were born. And given its location in the Unknown Regions, there’s only one option. Gentlemen, welcome to Ahch-To.”

Although Rey said she didn’t want to be dramatic she still paused for effect. Ben wanted to say something, express his emotions somehow, but he wasn’t sure exactly what they were, and whatever they were was overwhelming, so he just stared at her and kept his mouth shut. Finn was also quiet, which was unusual for him, but he didn’t seem shocked or surprised. 

When neither of the men said anything Rey rolled her eyes and continued. “Fine. On to practicalities then. There are several species here, including one sentient one, but none of them will hurt us. I am very sure that nothing here will hurt us, although I still think we should have our weapons on us, just in case.”

There was a path leading up the steep hill from the landing area, and they followed it; Rey in the lead, Ben in the middle and Finn taking up the rear. After several minutes of walking they reached the grouping of stone huts that they’d seen from the air; six or seven of them gathered around a common area. They were in surprisingly good condition, although the village seemed to be deserted. They continued on the path, around the natural curves of the rocky ground, until they reached the grassy saddle that ran the length of the island. There they rested, took long draughts of water from their canteens while they laughed at the small, round birds who seemed very curious about the visitors, and discussed where to go next.

“The most obvious place for the location of the books is the peak,” Finn said, pointing to the rocky outcropping they’d all noticed from the air. “There’s a path up, I can see it there, and I think there’s a cave opening. I can feel it too, can you guys feel it?”

Rey and Ben nodded. “I can feel something else,” Rey said, “it’s over that way,” she pointed north from where they stood, to the east of the outcropping. 

Ben was trying to parse the various impressions he was getting from the island. He didn't use his Force powers consciously any more, not regularly anyway, and it was proving difficult, like determining the individual flavors in an intricately spiced dish. But there were definitely areas where the Force was most potent. One in particular caught his attention.

“There's a third one. You feel it, don't you Finn?”

His friend nodded, eyes shining, but it was Rey who spoke. “Down there,” she pointed to the eastern edge of the island. “It's very dark.”

“That's where I'm going,” Finn declared, and Rey shot him a surprisingly nasty look. 

“The books aren't there, Finn, I know it. There's no reason to go there.”

Finn’s jaw took on a determined angle. “The Force is calling me there. I may not be a Jedi but when the Force calls me, I listen. It has something to show me.” Finn set his dark eyes on Ben, a keen glance that made his heart pound. “Is it calling you, Ben?”

Ben reached out and poked at the dark place. It was visceral, like a worm wriggling under a rock, or a partially-picked scab. It attracted and repulsed, and Ben pulled back just as the nausea hit. He bent over and vomited into the grass; he was dimly aware of Rey’s cool hand on the back of his neck. She helped him rinse his mouth with water from her canteen. It was a few moments before he could speak again. 

“I can feel it, but I don't think it wants me, and I don't want to go there.” He took Rey’s hand in his own. “I want to go with Rey. We’ll get the books. You do whatever you need to do. We can rendezvous up in that cave. I think whatever else we do, we need to go to that cave.”

They all agreed to this plan, and Finn hugged them both and took off on the path that led down to the eastern edge of the island, leaving Ben and Rey alone.

The two of them followed the path the Force set for them, and the path it set led them to a glen on the east side of the cliff of the peak, a misty area dominated by a large tree. The Force was strong there, and there were voices, as though the mist itself was speaking to them, but Ben couldn’t understand what the voices were saying.

“It’s an uneti tree,” Ben breathed, hardly believing it. “One of the great Force-sensitive trees. I’ve only seen one once before, when I visited Yavin 4 as a child. Have you ever seen one, Rey?”

She didn’t answer, but followed the path to its terminus, a rent in the side of the tree. Then she placed her palms on either side of what was clearly a doorway, and rubbed them up and down the smooth edges of the crack. “It’s hollow,” she whispered, “and ancient. The books are inside here.” And she stepped into the darkness.

Ben closed his eyes and listened to the voices in the mist for just a moment more before he followed her in. By the time he reached her, Rey was standing in front of a small shelf, set into the wall of the tree, just under a hole through which sunlight streamed down to illuminate the space. There were seven books lined up on the shelf. She had not yet made a move to touch them.

“This was easy,” Ben said, mostly to have something to fill up the quiet. But Rey shook her head.

“This isn’t easy, Ben. This is going to be very hard. Will you,” she glanced over her shoulder at him, “will you help? Just… touch me. Touch me, please.” 

So Ben stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed the exposed skin of her neck before resting his cheek against the back of her head. Rey took a deep breath and reached out to touch the spine of one of the books. 

Several things happened at once. Rey inhaled sharply, and although Ben couldn’t glean what she was learning about the book he could feel  _ her _ in a way he couldn’t before; her uncertainty and loneliness and heartache and love, and he’d had no idea of any of it. She’d been completely closed off to him but now she was open, and he held her more tightly and tried to open himself to her, too. Then she yelled, and laughed, and in addition to experiencing her emotions he was having a vision, a vision of the two of them standing together, wielding power together. What the power was and what exactly they were doing with it wasn’t clear, but the part that was clear is that they were  _ together _ .

The vision only lasted a few seconds, and when he came back to himself he was shocked to discover that his hands had moved, his right hand up to Rey’s breast, and his left hand between her legs, up under her tunic, warm even through the fabric of her leggings. She didn’t seem to mind, in fact she was pushing her backside firmly against his front, and she was moaning.

“Please Ben,  _ please _ . I need you now, right now.”

“Wait, you want me to… have sex with you? In the tree?” It was a little weird, even for her.

Rey growled and reached back to pull down her leggings. “Yes now, I just… this is a lot and I need you inside me. It would help me feel better. And also… whatever this is. Did you feel it?”

“I did, I felt it. I felt you. And I saw.”

She turned around, impatient, her leggings now down around her thighs, and tugged at his zipper. “I saw too. We were together. We belong together, Ben. Did you know that?” And she looked up into his face, her hazel eyes wild and dilated, as she pulled his cock out of his trousers. He was surprised at how hard he was, and how badly he wanted her. Although, in truth, he always wanted her.

“I did. We do,” he replied, and gripped the sides of her face before kissing her soundly, his lips and tongue dancing with hers, swallowing her moans, and she swallowed his as she squeezed and stroked his cock until he couldn’t take it anymore.

“I need to be inside you, Rey. Kriff, what’s the best way to do this? It’s just a little awkward.” She laughed and turned around, leaning her front up against the shelf and reaching her hands around behind her to pull her thighs apart. She bit her lip at him over her shoulder.

“Just like this, please. This would be perfect.” 

So Ben did as she requested, took her by the hips and watched himself disappear into her until he was fully sheathed. He took a moment just to enjoy the sensation of being inside Rey. She always felt marvelous, so wet and warm and tight, like she was hugging him in the most intimate way possible. But this was something else. The Force, which was always present as background noise, was almost palpable here. He could taste it, smell it, feel and breathe it. And the Force was dancing with them, bringing the two of them together as he moved inside her, as he rubbed her clit and pinched her nipples and kissed her neck, and as she reached over her head and gripped his hair in her fist and cried out in pleasure. 

When they came they did it together, and Ben was rewarded with a second vision, this one also only a few seconds, but again it was him and Rey. They were old. They were old, together. That was the vision.

And then he was back in the tree, pulling out of her and putting himself away as Rey was pulling up her leggings and complaining about how she’d need to clean up later. “I’m going to be smelly, Finn is going to know, and that is embarrassing.”

Ben gave her a quick kiss. “He’d know anyway, my hair is a real mess.” Rey laughed at that, and he did his best to use his fingers to comb it back. 

She pointed at the books. “These are fine, and we can take them now, I think. I’ll be able to identify them. The problem,” she paused to shake her head, “the  _ problem _ is that your uncle is a nerf herder.”

Ben opened his satchel and started to load in the books. “He is,” Ben said, confused, “but why mention it now?”

“It was Luke who gave me the coordinates, if you hadn't already guessed. He said he’d heard some rumor that the books were here. Ben, Luke put the books here. Luke and Lor San Tekka. These have been here thirty years, at the most.”

“Where did he get them from? Can you tell that?”

“From the archives of the Empire. Must have done a lot of breaking and entering. Not too different from what Hux is doing at the museum, I dare say.”

“But for a different purpose.”

Rey nodded in concession. “Yes, arguably for a better purpose.”

“And,” Ben said, tightening the straps on his satchel and placing an arm around her shoulder, “he’s having us return them. Right? So that’s good.”

Rey sighed and made her way towards the door to the tree. “That is good. Maybe he’s wanted to do this for a while, he just never had a way. And he saw us as his opportunity. I just wish he’d told me that part. It’s a complication.”

Ben chuckled. “That’s Luke.”

They stepped outside the tree, and Ben shivered when he realized that he could now understand the voices in the mist. So could Rey, apparently. She gripped his hand tightly.

“Ben… are they saying our names?”

“I think so. Rey, did you have a second vision? When we…”

“Yes,” she answered quickly. “I did. We belong together.” 

And she kissed him again, and held his hand in hers all the way up the ridge, until they reached the cave at the top of the outcropping.

It wasn’t just a cave; it was a temple.

Finn was waiting for them when they arrived. He didn’t greet them; he was sitting silently on the low ledge of what appeared to be a shallow pool of water, fed from drips coming from the roof of the cavern far above them. The cavern was very tall, and had an opening to the outside, where Ben could make out a large stone altar, and the twin suns, still high in the sky. He was reminded that he hadn’t eaten in hours, and he felt very hungry; but then he heard Rey’s stomach rumble where she stood next to him, and he realized that it wasn’t his own hunger he was feeling at all. It was hers.

That was new.

“Finn? We got the books.” Rey called over to him, but he didn’t look up. He just kept looking into the pool. As they got closer, Ben could see that there was a mosaic in the floor of the pool. The mosaic pictured a figure, seated cross-legged and holding a lightsaber in front of its body. One half of it was light with a dark background, the other half was dark with a light background. 

Finn finally noticed them when they sat down, one on either side of him. “It’s the Prime Jedi,” he said, unsmiling, “meditating in perfect balance.”

He didn’t say anything more. They sat together and Rey and Finn stared into the pool as Ben watched shadows move across the wall as the suns shifted in the sky behind them.

“Did you find what you were looking for, Finn?” Rey finally asked quietly, venturing to place a hand on her friend’s shoulder. 

“Yes,” Finn answered, and then stood up quickly. “We should leave. I want to go home to Rose.” And without another word, Finn headed back down the steep path, not waiting to see if Rey and Ben were following behind him.


	4. Return and Belonging

The trip back to Coruscant was wonderful in some ways and terrible in others.

It was wonderful because something had happened between Rey and Ben on Ahch-To. Since getting to know her as an adult Ben had always liked Rey, and he’d definitely been attracted to her, and he’d thought and hoped that she felt the same way. But now he knew it. He could feel her emotions, and she could feel his, and it was both frightening and marvelous. He’d never felt close to someone before, and this… this was very close. So the two of them spent time figuring out exactly how far the connection extended, what they could do with it, and what it might mean. It was similar in concept to the Force Bond that Luke had taught them about at the academy, although as far as Ben remembered that only occurred between Jedi Masters and their apprentices; so he wasn’t sure what to call it. He just knew that he liked it, very much indeed.

It was terrible because Finn had clearly had a bad experience in the dark place on Ahch-To, but he wasn’t sharing it with them. He was usually quite a jolly person, inclined to laugh and joke, but now when he wasn’t sleeping he would sit in the co-pilot’s chair and brood. He carried a hyperspace transponder and would spend hours trying to communicate with Rose, but the technology wasn’t reliable and she wasn’t always available when he wanted her to be, which put him in an even worse mood. Rey got frustrated after the third time he snapped at her for trying to engage with him, so she was avoiding him completely, and Ben knew exactly how painful that was for her, but he didn’t know what to do about it.

Rey was able to identify the origins for all the books, and that was good. In a few cases it would be straightforward; there were two from Jakku that could be taken directly to Lor San Tekka at the Church of the Force. He might be surprised to see them again; Rey assumed that Luke hadn’t told him about his repatriation plan. She hoped he wouldn’t be disappointed, but he could blame Luke if he was. In a few other cases - the tome from Jedha most particularly - finding a home on the planet would be difficult. But Finn, in the few moments she was able to get him to communicate, seemed confident that he had connections that would help with that. 

The more immediate order of business was to trade the original books for the forgeries, and that happened two days into the trip, when they stopped on Nar Shaddaa to meet Poe for the handoff.

Ben took the satchel of books and met Poe at the diner they’d selected as the best place for an innocuous trade-off. Unlike someplace like the Meltdown Café, which was popular with bounty hunters, The Level 88 Café was more family friendly. Well, as family friendly as things could be on the Smuggler’s Moon. To keep up appearances they ate a meal together, which was a strange experience considering they’d only met each other once before. So they chatted about this and that; Poe asked Ben about his work with the museum, and Ben asked Poe about his job as a pilot. Ben was surprised to learn that his own father had been one of Poe’s flying instructors. He know that Poe didn’t know his last name, and he didn’t feel like outing himself, so when the name  _ Han Solo _ came up in conversation he nodded politely and tried not to roll his eyes when the phrases  _ Kessel Run _ and  _ less than twelve parsecs _ came up in quick succession.

They were paying the bill and preparing to leave when Ben had a sudden spike of anxiety followed by an understanding that he had to return to the ship as soon as possible; he could only assume that it came through his connection with Rey. He said a quick goodbye and made his way back to the  _ Falcon _ , the forgeries noticeably lighter than the original books in the satchel that Poe had traded with him under the booth at the diner, identical to the other.

He found Rey and Finn inside the  _ Falcon _ . Rey was in the pilot’s seat and she was livid; she started the engine as soon as Ben was on board. Finn was at the Dejarik table, looking meek for the first time in days. 

Ben joined her in the cockpit. “What happened? I can feel how angry you are. Is everything okay?” he slid into the copilot’s seat and started helping her with the takeoff protocols automatically; years of flying lessons stayed with him, no matter how much time passed.

Rey punched a button angrily. “Finn didn’t tell us he has a bounty on his head.”

_ What? _ Ben exclaimed at the same time Finn, who had followed Ben into the cockpit, cried, “I already told you, I didn’t know!”

“Oh yes,” Rey continued, ignoring Finn. “Apparently the Guavian Death Gang isn’t happy that Finn carved up their lead negotiator. They’re willing to pay forty-thousand credits for capture, or for death. Now, given his reputation there probably aren’t a ton of people willing to take them up on that, but who knows. I think this counts as a wrinkle in the plan, don’t you?”

Ben glanced back and forth between his friend and his lover and tried desperately to find a way to defuse the situation, but had trouble coming up with one because he was too angry. His own anger was blending with Rey’s through their connection, and it seemed to work like a feedback loop, made more strong with each pass. Something similar had happened during their lovemaking, but this was much less pleasurable.

Finn tried to say something, but Ben growled at him and told him to shut up, so he buckled himself in and kept quiet while the other two worked to get them off the planet.

She connected with the traffic control and received permission to leave. As they finally lifted off from the planet, Rey explained to Ben how Finn - despite agreeing to stay on the  _ Falcon _ and out of sight, just in case - had ventured down the boarding ramp when Rey wasn’t paying attention, and had been recognized by a passerby. This passerby, a female mercenary whose name Ben didn’t recognize, wasn’t inclined to try to bring Finn in herself, but she was happy to tell him that he needed to be careful for a while, at least until the bounty expired. Finn came straight in and told Rey, who was just about as enraged as one might expect.

“So we just have to be really careful from now on,” Finn said from behind them. Having told the story Rey was beginning to calm down, which likewise calmed Ben. It was very strange how that worked. He couldn't decide if he liked it or not, but he supposed his opinion didn’t really matter.

Finn continued, “Look, I… I’m not surprised. But I’m also not going to back down, and I’m not going to put anyone else in danger for my mistake. So as soon as we land on Coruscant, I’m out. Just for a while. I have places I can go. I’ll, uh,” he cleared his throat, “I’ll have to stay away from Rose. If I make a recording for her, will you take it to her? So she knows I’ll be back, as soon as I can?”

As Finn spoke Ben could feel Rey’s anger melting to sadness, and she silently agreed to Finn’s request just before pushing them into hyperspace.

There was one more day of travel. Finn took his time with the recording, holed up in the bunk room. It was uncomfortable, napping at the Dejarik table and in the pilots’ chairs, but Rey and Ben were both happy to give Finn that space, that time to himself.

And then they were back to Coruscant. Finn was noticeably jumpy, clearly nervous to get off the  _ Falcon _ and get to wherever he was planning to go hide. Rey had his recording in her bag, and Ben had the books, and they walked off the  _ Falcon _ and straight into an ambush.

They never found out who told the Guavian Death Gang that they’d be landing in that sector at that time, but the soldiers were ready, and Finn was not. He’d left the ship first, and was greeted at the foot of the ramp by a group of six Guavian foot soldiers. He drew his saber as soon as he realized what was happening, but they had surprise on their side, and he was shot in the leg before he had a chance to deflect the blast. 

He was able to remain upright, and was fairly successful with deflecting further blasts and pushing the soldiers back with the Force, but it was clear he wasn’t going to be able to defeat them on his own. Rey started blasting at them from inside the  _ Falcon _ , and she yelled to him to pull back, so they could attack together from the safety of the ship, but he refused. 

“This was my vision, Rey!” Ben could hear him from where he crouched, just behind Rey. “This is what the dark cave had to show me.”

“What, you being an idiot?” She shouted angrily.

“No!” he yelled, deflecting another bolt as his right leg was clearly preparing to give way underneath him. “Sacrificing myself to save you guys!”

Rey’s anger and frustration roiled through Ben. “This kriffing  _ guy _ ,” she growled, “thinks he has to be a hero because of something some cave told him once.” And she stood up and ran down the ramp, with Ben close behind her. Ben wasn’t sure what exactly he was going to do - he was unarmed, after all - but he trusted Rey, and he knew that he needed to follow her.

Rey ran past Finn, towards the soldiers, baring her teeth and yelling, pushing out with the Force and shooting her blaster indiscriminately. It succeeded in pushing them back a few feet, and gave Ben a moment to check on his friend. Finn was clearly in pain, and when Ben crouched down beside him he handed him his lightsaber.

“This is it, man. This is what I saw on that island - me, sacrificed, dying alone. Run while you can! Leave me to die.”

Ben had to hold himself back from smacking the man. “Finn, don’t be so dramatic. You’re not alone.” And he jumped up to join Rey, who had managed to push back the soldiers even further; and now there were only four left standing. Ben held the saber up and lit it, a dark purple blade that crackled seductively, and caused his hand to vibrate, but there was also an awareness, from somewhere deep in himself, that he wouldn’t actually have to use it.

Ben held the saber in his right hand, and lifted his left, not entirely sure what he was doing, but it felt like the right thing to do, and then he saw that Rey was doing it too, and he was certain. The Force was with them, moving through them and between them, answering to them, and they wielded it together. It was his vision, made reality. 

He lowered the saber and she lowered the blaster and they  _ pushed _ , but unlike the usual Force push, which resulted in a physical response, when they did it this time the four remaining soldiers fell where they stood. Ben knew that they were unconscious, not dead, and that they would remain so for quite a while. So as Rey attended to Finn he tied the six soldiers together and pulled them into a nearby storage unit, which he was able to unlock through methods that were now beginning to become clear.

When he returned to the _Falcon_ he found Finn sitting up on the ground, Rey at his side with the _Falcon_ ’s  supply of bacta patches. The man was equal parts amazed and relieved.

“Thank you. For not leaving me.” 

Rey huffed. “We’d never leave you like that, don’t be ridiculous. You’re our  _ friend _ . That vision really did a number on you, didn’t it.”

“I guess it did.  _ Ow! _ I wonder what it meant? Stupid vision.”

He kept chattering as Rey and Ben helped him to his feet and they started making their way out of the shuttle bay. Ben was mindful that they needed to get away before more of the Guavian soldiers showed up.

They got very lucky and were able to make it to the surface and to Ben’s apartment without being caught. It probably wasn’t the best place but it was the closest.

They settled Finn in the guest room with more bacta and a change of clothes; the damage to his legs had been messy but hadn’t caused any permanent damage, so they figured he would be walking again within a few days.

He asked Rey to erase the recording he’d made for Rose; he hadn’t thought he’d survive to see her, and there were apparently things in the recording he’d rather say to her face. Rey hugged him and did as he requested.

The next day Rey took the forgeries to her middleman, who was as impressed with them as Ben had been the first time he’d seen them (although the middleman didn’t know the truth of their origins). Money exchanged hands, he promised to pass them along to the anonymous buyer, and that was that.

* * *

 

Of course, that wasn’t that. The books they’d stolen from Ahch-To, which Luke had stolen from the Empire, which the Empire had stolen from their home worlds; eventually, they all made it back where they belonged. 

Finn also made it back to where he belonged; with Rose, of course. His experience on Ahch-to, and the battle that followed, stayed with him. He'd discovered that he was never really as dark as he thought he was, as Luke insisted he was; he was and had always been balanced. 

Finally, Rey and Ben found belonging with each other. For the rest of their lives they were always together; physically, and through the Force. 

The Repatriationists did many more jobs, over the years, ensured that artifacts from all corners of the galaxy also made it back to where they belonged. Home.

**Author's Note:**

> Dear kereia,
> 
> I have taken your juicy prompt in a very particular direction, and I do hope this works for you. It turned into something quite self-indulgent, and includes several story threads that I've been wanting to work with but haven't really had a chance to. 
> 
> I should say that I mostly write modern AUs, and I think this probably shows in the nonchalant way I've treated some of the characters. I request your indulgence; if it helps for you to think of this of a modern AU in canonverse clothing please do so!
> 
> It has been a great pleasure thinking this up, it's so different from my usual, and thank you for the prompt. I hope you like it!
> 
> Sincerely,  
> Anonymous
> 
> P.S. Big thanks to my beta, who is so very helpful all the time and who helped me so much in thinking through some of the plot points. Any plot holes or other issues are my own. I'll share her name when authors are revealed so she can get credit for her hard work!


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